Pulaski County has grossly inflated real estate reassessments and something needs to be done about it, a gathering of property owners agreed Tuesday.

While county officials have called the reassessment a routine step taken every five years to align tax assessments with fair market value, landowners have reacted in numbers to what they see as excessive increases.

New assessed valuations in Pulaski County for 2009 are about 35 percent higher than existing values when all property of every type is taken as a whole. Officials said some properties went up much more than the average, while others grew less and some values shrank. Notices went out earlier this month.

"Our farm quadrupled in [assessed] value," Chuck Long told a gathering called to unite the opposition Tuesday night.

About 50 property owners spent a little more than an hour at a site near Claytor Lake sharing figures and trying to piece together how to mount an effective protest. The group has drawn up a petition and agreed to stage a second meeting at a date to be announced.

Richard LaBrie proposed that the group get their calculators out and check the county's figures. "The entire database needs to be looked at and analyzed," he said.

Laura Walters, who led the meeting, agreed. "It's not good enough to go in and say, 'Our assessments are too high, our taxes are too high.' We need data to back it up," she said.

County Administrator Pete Huber said earlier Tuesday that he had heard the meeting would take place. He said was not invited and did not plan to attend.

"The state law does require us to reassess property periodically," Huber said. "I would encourage folks who have issues with regard to their reassessment to contact their assessor."

A county-hired assessment company is reviewing reassessments flagged by landowners and may change some values. Property owners are empowered to formally protest at a later stage in the process and petition the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors to grant relief by lowering the tax rate. The tax rate is 62 cents per $100 of value.

Huber said previously that he would be surprised if the tax rate is increased and that it is more likely to stay the same or, as has occurred in past years, be lowered. A public hearing on that issue is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.